#trending

With two prime-time Emmy wins, a West End play and two films in 2016, Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba’s career is in full swing.

“This business will try to convince you that you’re not enough,” she says. “That you’re not pretty enough, thin enough, talented enough, interesting enough, experienced enough, and I say, ‘Enough. Enough with that!’”

“People were thirsty, but they didn’t even know what they were thirsty for until they saw our show. They wanted stories that felt inclusive of their existence, where they could see themselves…I never imagined a Bantu knot-wearing woman named Crazy Eyes would do all of this. Definitely not,” Uzo Aduba told ESSENCE about her hit series Orange Is The New Black, currently filming its fifth season.

Dennis Leupold

“There are millions of people in this world who choose to watch out show, and without that choosing, we would not exist,” she said. “Thank you for being open enough to allow us into your home. Thank you for seeing us and seeing that we matter.”